Shen students mourned

Driver whose car caused crash may face vehicular manslaughter charges

Updated 1:23 am, Monday, December 3, 2012

Students embrace each other Sunday outside the Shenendehowa High School East building in Clifton Park. The school had grief counselors on hand for students dealing with the death of two of their classmates in a car accident Saturday on the Northway. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Students embrace each other Sunday outside the Shenendehowa High...

The SUV in which four high school students were riding in is seen inside the impound lot at State Police Troop G headquarters in Latham. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

The SUV in which four high school students were riding in is seen...

School Superintendent L. Oliver Robinson talks to the media Sunday at Shenendehowa High School. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

School Superintendent L. Oliver Robinson talks to the media Sunday...

Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers, seniors at Shenendehowa High School, were killed Saturday in a car crash on the Northway. (Facebook)

Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers, seniors at Shenendehowa High...

The SUV in which four high school students were riding in is seen inside the impound lot at State Police Troop G headquarters in Latham. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

The SUV in which four high school students were riding in is seen...

The SUV in which four high school students were riding in is seen inside the impound lot at State Police Troop G headquarters in Latham. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Shenendehowa senior Chris Stewart, left, holds Shaker High School senior Bailey Wind, and Shenendehowa senior Matt Hardy holdsShenendehowa senior Deanna Rivers. They were all involved in a car crash Saturday night on the Northway. Stewart and Rivers were killed. (Facebook)

Shenendehowa senior Chris Stewart, left, holds Shaker High School...

A photo of Chris Stewart and Bailey Wind, who were involved in a fatal car crash Saturday night on the Northway. Stewart was killed along with fellow Shenendehowa student Deanna Rivers. Wind, who attends Shaker High School, was seriously injured. (Facebook)

A photo of Chris Stewart and Bailey Wind, who were involved in a...

Students on Sunday leave Shenendehowa High School East in Clifton Park. The school had grief counselors on hand for students dealing with the death of two of their classmates in a Saturday car accident on the Northway. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Students on Sunday leave Shenendehowa High School East in Clifton...

Grieving students gather Sunday outside Shenendehowa High School East in Clifton Park. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Chris Stewart was a captain on the football team, a starter on the offensive and defensive lines. Matthew Hardy was his teammate.

Bailey Wind, a standout diver at Shaker, started dating Stewart shortly after Rivers introduced them after a football game last year over ice cream at Friendly's. The couple celebrated their first anniversary last week with a home-cooked dinner of Wind's favorite foods: french fries, bagels with cream cheese, and mozzarella sticks, served by Stewart over candlelight.

The four young friends shared a love of sports, and each was the embodiment of the student athlete. And they were all smiling Saturday night as they watched the UAlbany men's basketball team beat Siena at the Times Union Center, with Stewart wearing a yellow balloon hat as he cheered the Saints, Wind grinning behind him.

Stewart was tasked with driving everybody home. He guided his Ford Explorer up the Northway and was less than five miles from his Halfmoon home when the SUV careened into the highway median, leaving Stewart and Rivers dead and Wind and Hardy hospitalized.

At 10:09 p.m., a man police say was speeding and had been drinking rear-ended the SUV.

It took just a few seconds for the Explorer to roll across three lanes of traffic. It will take days, weeks, months, maybe longer for this community to recover.

"It's one of those things that regardless of what you may plan for, nothing can prepare you for the numbness," said L. Oliver Robinson, the superintendent of schools for the Shenendehowa Central School District. "I think that's what a lot of people are feeling today: numbness, like this is unreal; like this cannot happen."

Stewart and Rivers were both 17. Hardy and Wind, both 17 as well, suffered broken bones and, as of late Sunday, both were in serious condition, State Police said.

Dennis Drue, 22, caused the accident when, troopers said, he abruptly and aggressively switched lanes about a mile north of the Twin Bridges. After moving swiftly from the far left lane to the center, Drue moved again to the right lane, but rear-ended Stewart's SUV, sending the student's car across the highway. Drue went right off the shoulder of the road. He suffered cuts to his head and is expected to be released from Ellis Hospital

Drue's blood alcohol content was not available, but troopers said he failed an alcohol screening test at the scene. How fast Drue was driving is unclear as well, though a State Police investigator said Drue was going at least between 70 and 75 mph, if not faster. Investigators are still awaiting results of Drue's toxicology report, but State Police BCI Captain Steve James said Drue will likely be charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter, felonies punishable by a combined maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Drue has several speeding tickets and revocations on his driving record, though none are alcohol-related and he has no criminal record, James said. The captain would not say where Drue was headed at the time of the crash, but he noted that Stewart had a clean driving record and that he did nothing to cause the accident.

"(Stewart) was not at all culpable in this tragedy," James said.

Grief counselors were on hand at Shen Sunday. Groups of students, some with their parents, many dressed in Shen green and white, hugged and cried outside the school. Robinson and Shen Athletic Director Christopher Culnan often embraced the students and offered words of encouragement.

"Be strong," Robinson said to one of Stewart's football teammates in an emotional hug. Robinson's son plays football for Shen as well. "You have to be strong. We all have to be strong."

A 6-foot-1, 240-pound bulldozer at both offensive and defensive and offensive tackle, Stewart had dozens of colleges clamoring for his services. He helped lead the Plainsmen to an 8-2 record in 2012 and an undefeated regular season in 2011. He was inches shy of a touchdown after returning an interception — rare for a lineman — 44 yards against Ballston Spa last year.

"It was pretty much the coolest experience I've ever had," Stewart said and the time.

He was named an Empire Division All Star in 2012. He received his award at a ceremony at Shaker High School Saturday afternoon, just hours before his death.

"Chris had a larger-than-life personality," Shen football coach Brian Clawson said Sunday. "You take away the athletic side and celebrate Chris as a person, he had a concern for everyone, and that's why he was so loved in the community."

In February, the day after Clawson was chosen by the school to replace legendary coach Brent Steuerwald, Stewart sent an email to his new coach offering "anything I can do in terms of the team."

Clawson said the football team would retire Stewart's No. 69 in his honor.

Hardy and Wind are accomplished student athletes as well: Hardy plays football, basketball and baseball for Shen and Wind is an elite diver with Shaker who recently signed a letter of intent with the University of Tennessee.

Rivers was to set to receive more playing time this upcoming softball season and was beloved by her teammates, school officials said.

"Deanna was just such a nice girl," Culnan said. "She was very selfless and truly loved the school. When I spoke with her mother earlier, the one thing she kept saying to us was how much she loved school. And how often do you hear that these days? It really says a lot about her."

Their eyes visibly red, Stewart's parents and older brother, Jeremy, sat around their kitchen table Sunday evening recounting Chris' love of football and his easy nature.

The game dominated his life, and he hoped to make a career as a trainer or coach. Michael Stewart, 54, remembered standing near the locker room window to offer his son bits of last-minute advice before each game. Regina Stewart, 46, said her son was a "big teddy bear" who made a point of picking up players on the opposing team sprawled on the ground after a tough play.

He rooted for the Philadelphia Eagles and, after spending the first two years of his life there, the Arkansas Razorbacks.

"He's just a Giant hater," Michael said of his son's support for the Eagles. "We went to many Giants-Eagles games, and he was proud to wear his Eagles jersey. He was big enough to get away with it."

At the time of the crash, Wind was in the front passenger seat and Hardy and Rivers were in the back. Hardy was partially ejected from the SUV and Rivers was thrown from the vehicle.

State Police allowed reporters to view Stewart's battered SUV at Troop G headquarters in Latham. Though rendered to a twisted heap of steel, a green-and-white "Shen" sticker was still easily visible just above the vehicle's rear bumper.

"Any time you have one of these situations, it's even more tragic when the students were so involved in the school," Robinson said. "But the most important thing I want people to remember is that these were great kids who had their lives cut short much too early. We want them to be remembered as being great kids."